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[fatty]

I have this beast for a machine.

Performance
• Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.26GHz
• 533 MHz front side bus
• 512k processor cache
• 512MB DDR memory (now 1 GB of RAM)
• Intel RAID-ready motherboard
• 80GB hard drive capacity
• 7200 RPM ATA/100 server grade hard drive

Seriously, it has done me good for reliability and stability for the five years I have used it. Last year I started to play WoW and I upgraded my video card to this model but this weekend it died on me (just a blank screen, Windows wouldn’t even boot up). Replaced the card with my original and all is ok but after spending 45 minutes on hold with customer support and finally hanging up after still not talking with them I’m wondering if I should just bite the bullet and buy another one. (I’m not sure if they would even replace it)

The two that I have come across are:
XFX GeForce 6200 256MB AGP 8x Video Card ( DVI VGA TV-Out )
and
SAPPHIRE 100562L-GN Radeon 9600PRO 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card

What do you guys think?

Obviously I’m just trying to stay very basic and cheap as possible but still get a decent (reliable) card. The most graphic intensive games that I’m looking to play with this PC is eventually Civ IV and Half-Life 2. Just need to get by until I get a new PC next year to play StarCraft 2 (and video editing). Thanks for your help!

BTW, what does the 4X/8X stand for?

 

[Diablos]

get a new machine.

 

[fatty]

get a new machine.

Such insight. Thanks for the contribution.

 

[bill0527]

I'd recommed this card. After mail-in-rebate, it'll get you closer to your budget. Its probably the best sub-$100 AGP card left out there.

SAPPHIRE 100174L Radeon X1650PRO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X CrossFire Support Video Card - Retail $59.99 after $30 MIR.

 

[Armitage]

The 6200 is probably not going to be able to play HL2/Civ4 with everything cranked, but it should be playable either at a reduced resolution or with some settings turned off. The processor is fine for games you want to play, and 1gig of ram should be fine.

 

[fatty]

Thanks for the replies. I'm considering the $60 one as well but I'm not sure if it would be worth it for my machine since it is almost double the cost of the others. I will definitely look into it, though.

In the grand scheme of things, I'm wondering if the difference is really that great between the two that I posted? Esp. for my machine. :lol

I really need to start researching the pc tech again for when I'm ready to buy next year. I haven't kept up with the dual core/quad core stuff at all.

 

[fatty]

One more question, is there a way to tell if my power supply is sufficient enough to run these cards?

 

[BigJonsson]

I'm assuming you only have AGP?

Get a Nvidia 7800 GS, its (as far as I know) the top AGP card on the market and seems to have dropped in price quite alot since I bought mine in March 06

 

[bill0527]

One more question, is there a way to tell if my power supply is sufficient enough to run these cards?

Good question.

I ran into this 2 years ago when I tried to upgrade my old HP Media Center PC from a Radeon 9200 AGP to a Geforce 6600gt AGP card. The power supply in it wasn't sufficient so I had to upgrade that also.

If you know what kind of power supply you've got now, then you check the specifications tab under the item at Newegg, or you can always check the manufacturer's page, or if that doesn't give you anything, try googling 'power supply requirements for <insert card name>'

 

[Doytch]

I ran Civ IV and HL2 on a 9600 Pro. It'll be on low graphics, 1024*768 resolution, but it's workable if you don't want to buy a PC now. But really, right now is probably the best time to get one. Prices are bottoming out everywhere, and you get something really future-proof too with the P35 chipsets.

 

[fatty]

Thanks for the help guys. I decided to go with the 9600 Pro. Since I only have a 300W power supply (the x1650Pro recommends 350W as a minimum) it made the decision a little easier. I figure it will be "good enough" and should be a nice final upgrade for this computer.

I thought about getting a new computer but decided against it since the one I have is still working great. Prices always drop and by the time I'm ready Quad Core will be out in full force and I'll be able to pick up a pretty sweet Dual Core machine.